Week in Review: Sad News, Good News and New News

We had terrible news this week with the death of a friend/past coworker this week but I will write more about that next week after we attend her services.  It was a tragic accident and is difficult to wrap our minds around it all.  I want to take the time to write a little tribute for this very special person who was a living saint.

Moving on because life somehow still continues after tragedy.  Here's what happened this past week.

Maggie got her license!!

The Martin family now has six licensed drivers living at home and only four cars so that's been interesting.  It is helpful that most of us work at The Cottage which is less than a mile from our house and doesn't necessitate a car.  

Maggie also participated in Sacristan Day, which is the girl version of Altar Boy Boot Camp at our parish.  The girls learned/relearned how to be sacristans, visited a church and went to the same archery place as the boys did.  It's a beautiful sight to see these lovely young ladies set up and clean up the altar before and after each Mass.

Declan and Brendan have been at a camp in the next town over this past week, and are sweaty and tired little boys at pickup.  Exactly how summer boys should be!  On one particularly hot day, I drove them to get ice cream after and say hi to Phil.  These kids are lucky duckies.

This is our weekly Battle of the Tips.  Which would you choose?  I think my answer is obvious :)

This meme hit verrrrry close to home.  I have been known to eat handfuls of chocolate chips because everything else is just a healthy ingredient.

And last but not least, JP has had some changes in his plans.  If you recall, he was working as a medical scribe for a family physician that has a neurological disease (similar to ALS).  JP loves this doctor, and loved working for him plus he was getting patient care hours to apply for Physician Assistant school next year.  Unfortunately, the doctor's health deteriorated faster than anyone thought it would and he was forced to retire early.  The medical group doesn't typically hire scribes, but had made the exception for this doctor who relied on one, so JP was left without a position.  HR said they would try and figure something out for him.  

While working for this amazing doctor, JP was really inspired to become a doctor versus a Physician Assistant.  He has always struggled to choose between the two careers and was planning on applying to both medical schools and PA schools but now feels more called to become a doctor.  With the sudden loss of his job, JP has met with HR and decided to leave the job (on good terms with the ability to be rehired) and use this time to study for the MCATs and work at The Cottage to make money.  

He's signed up to take the MCAT on September 14th so he only has two months to prepare.  He will see what his score is and then decide the next steps.  He will most likely still apply to both PA and Med Schools and also try to work back in the medical field until acceptance into a school.  So many big decisions!  We are happy to let him stay here until it's all worked out, however long that may take.  I took this photo of him studying on Day One of many more to come:

And that's about it!  I have my annual physical on Monday so you know I've been "cramming" by eating extra healthy for this past week, as if it really matters.  I'm sure I'll still have high cholesterol and be overweight according to my BMI.  It's tough to get old, but also better than the alternative, and this week has definitely put that into perspective.

Have a wonderful summer weekend everyone, please hug your friends tight!